Summer's Eve in Silent Hill
by Dr. Seth
Summary: Were you as shocked by the revelation of Alex's character at the end of Silent Hill: Homecoming? He seemed like such a nice boy! Here's a little insight into who he is.
1. Chapter 1

This is just a little something for my friends Robb and the Sisters of Silence as a thank you for being so brave and playing this game because I'm too badly coordinated and easily frightened. I think I was able to condense elements of all 5 games (that I've played-I know there's that PSP game). I'd like to say that my writing is bad because I just kind of cobbled this together at work and before bed when I was extra sleepy but really, there is no excuse for this rubbish. Just try to enjoy…

The world came in a blur rusty browns and blood reds, the light a hazy orange. Alex slowly regained consciousness, his vision focused first on the heavy leather restraints securing his wrists to a metal chair. Things grew suddenly sharper as adrenaline surged into his system. He looked around frantically, furiously straining at the thick cuffs in anticipation of another round of torture. From the edges of the light came the sounds of heavy, deliberate footsteps. The single, bare bulb dangling above his head began to tease the silhouettes of monsters from the dark---flowing, blood-stained cloths wrapped around massive torsos the pale color of corpses, metal heads cresting in a rusty point.

"No! Oh God, no!" Alex began to tremble. "What are you doing? Get away from me!"

The creatures were deaf to his cries, advancing closer. All of the confusion, sadness and terror burst the thin dam he had constructed to save his sanity in the hell-hole he found himself in. "Please, please don't!" He screamed. "I'm really a good guy-a soldier! I was never a douche bag like in that weird memory, I swear!" The monsters froze. Had they pity within them?

"No, dude; you really were a douche," said the one on the left, his voice gravely within the metal cage.

"_Total_ douche bag," said the one on the right.

Alex was taken aback. "Was not!"

"Was too!" said Righty.

Alex couldn't believe it. If this hell was real, how could his identity be otherwise? All he remembered was being a good soldier, a loving son, a devoted big brother…Before he could help it, he started sniffling. Soon, big tears were tracking down his face.

"Aw, would ya lookit this guy?" Righty snickered. Lefty thoughtfully stroked his thumb and forefinger against the chin of his pyramid as he recalled his own induction into Silent Hill. He, too, had been a sniveling asshole, deserving the judgment he received.

"Hey, now," he clapped a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Take a moment to pull yourself together, big guy. I know it sounds tough, but here in Silent Hill we don't make mistakes. We pass judgments righteously, so just try to suck it up and we'll go from there."

"Prove it," Alex said.

"What?"  
"Prove that I'm really the kind of guy you say I am. You can't judge me without proof, so I wanna see it."

Lefty was taken aback. Righty sensed his hesitation.

"You're not really gonna do it?" Lefty reached for the cuff securing Alex's wrist. "You _are_. Geez, well that's just great…"

"C'mon, just this once…" Lefty undid the last buckle freeing Alex's wrists.

"Well, you have fun with that!" Righty grumbled, retreating back into the darkness. "Hope he doesn't stab you or something!"

"He knows better than that!" Pyramid Head called, sweeping an arm around Alex. "Don't ya, buddy? Yeah, you're s smart guy, you know better than to try anything with me." Alex swallowed hard. The thing's grip was intense, its metal head seemingly impenetrable. "C'mon; I think I got the proof in my apartment."

"You have an apartment?"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to buy a house but…I dunno. Just haven't gotten around to it. You know how things are, you get busy with your job, judgin' and stuff…" Pyramid Head lumbered on, Alex trailing by his side.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex and Pyramid Head walked the underground tunnels that paralleled the empty streets above. Things scattered into the darkness and at times Alex would catch their faces in the light of his flashlight peering curiously at the odd duo. He let his hand glide across the ceremonial dagger stashed in his jacket pocket but didn't entertain the idea of an attack for too long; Pyramid Head was massively muscular and seemingly invulnerable.

"Here we are," he said, climbing up a steel ladder. Alex unfortunately looked up and caught an eyeful of what lay beneath the tattered bloody cloth.

"Aw, gross," he blurted.

"You say something?" Pyramid Head turned to give him a hand up.

"N-nothing…"

Pyramid Head pulled him up into the street in front of a quaint brick apartment building situated near Silent Hill's main street. This was a place where young couples started nuclear families, not the dwelling of monsters. The mist rippled around them as they passed into the lobby and up two flights of stairs.

"Dammit, I forgot to stop by the store and pick up a bag of blood and a can of light bulbs. I think there was a sale or something-aw, hell." The monster patted its apron. "I think I lost my keys! I did, I lost my keys! Un-fucking-believable!"

"Do you have a spare?" Alex asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do! Just gotta remember where I put it…" Pyramid Head ran through a list of options in his head. "Ah, now I remember. Come with me…"

******************************************

"Most people would put their spare key in a fake rock, or hide it on the ledge of their doorway," Alex was panting hard and lagging a few steps behind his captor. "Oh, no-not you! You had to hide it in the burning crematorium that we had to somehow switch off from another room! And before we could do that, we had to configure the elevator just right or we would fall to our deaths, and call some guy on a disconnected payphone and answer every fucking riddle he threw at us about random shit, like Simon LeBon's birthday and who won the '84 Super Bowl! Oh, and where did we get these answers? If I recall correctly, and I do because it was burned into my brain forever, I read it off of a piece of paper I pulled out of a dead cat in a locker room! A dead cat! Fuck!"

"Geez, you are such a whiney pussy..."

"Oh, I'm sorry—I'm just hobbling around on a leg that I somebody went to town on with a drill!"

"Are you done?" Pyramid Head held the door open for Alex. He bitterly chewed his lower lip and limped inside. The television in the living room was blaring static and as Alex drew closer he saw a gruesome scene in the gray, flickering light: a man's body lay in the beat-up recliner, brains splayed behind its head in a violent red starburst. Pyramid Head brushed pass and tossed the body aside.

"Sorry about that! I'm not used to having company over, so sometimes it gets a little messy around here…I think I have the tape of your memories all cued up in the VCR, so just make yourself comfortable and start watching while I get us some beers." Using the remote, he turned on the VCR then lumbered back to the kitchen. Alex was grateful to sit and take the weight off of his aching leg but he remained tensely upright; there was no way he was going to relax and settle back into a big bunch of bloody brains.

The scene opened on a couple in a darkened bed room. The woman was lying in bed, the man sitting on a chair at her side, gently stroking her hair. Alex raised an eyebrow; this wasn't any part of his memory. The woman coughed roughly.

"Here, have some water," the man brought a glass to her parched lips.

"Oh, James…where would I be without you?" she smiled.

"Maria, you know I love you…This is the 'for better or worse' part, 'in sickness and in health'…"

"…'Till death do us part'…" Maria sadly turned her face away. James' hand drifted up from her hand, settling on her chest. "James! What are you doing?"

"Oh uh…nothing, just-ummmmmm…Your boob feels nice…"

"James…I'm so sick…"

"I know, baby, you've been sick a long time, but…C'mon, lemme just, you know, just put the tip in…"

"James!"  
"C'mooooon…Just the tip…" James skooched onto the bed, nibbling her ear, his hand weaving into the front of her night gown.

"But…well…okay…" Maria relented. Alex flushed watching as the two began to mesh together, the man bursting with pent-up urges, the woman weak and sickly, awkwardly participating.

"Woah woah woah! Wrong tape!" Pyramid Head swooped down, plunking the beers on the tables and hastily stopping the tape. "Go to the pantry and get some snacks while I get your memories ready!"

Alex hauled himself to his feet and shuffled into the kitchen. He had to stifle a scream as he slid the pantry door open. A man was standing there, very similar in appearance to James from the video, his eyes wide with terror. He pressed his finger to his lips, a plea to keep silent.

"You say something?" Pyramid Head asked from the front room.

"Uh, um, great snacks in here! Mmm…Cheetos!" Alex blurted.

"Oh. That sounds good; bring those." He went back to his stack of tapes.

The man in the pantry handed Alex the Cheetos. Alex felt bad but couldn't do anything more besides slide the door shut again. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.

"Could you answer that? You're closer…" Pyramid Head called from the living room. Alex turned on his heel wondering who could possibly be knocking on a door in an apartment complex in hell. He opened the door on a new vision of horror-a monstrosity stood before him, bloodlessly white, its face in blurred disarray, a stained apron fitted over its thin, bony body. Alex's reflexes activated; he tossed the Cheetos to the floor, swiftly seized his ceremonial dagger and swept it across the thing's body in a series of cutting blows. It cried out and crumpled to the floor.

"Hey-what the hell is going on out there!?" Pyramid Head stomped to the front door. His metal head jerked quickly as he looked from Alex, panting with a bloody knife in his hand, to the prone form in the front hallway. "ARGH! YOU ASSHOLE!!!" he bellowed, snatching Alex up in a crushing bear hug. Alex's world faded out to black.


	3. Chapter 3

Alex slowly came around, sensation and sight slinking back into his exhausted body. He felt hard, unyielding bodies pressed on either side of him. Blinking, he realized he was wedged on a couch between Pyramid Head and the visiting creature.

"Oh, look-douche bag is back!" It gurgled. Alex couldn't help but recoil in disgust.

"What the hell, dude? You freaked and went psycho on my friend Valtiel here!" Pyramid Head grunted.

"I just came over to ask if Pyramid Head wanted to go turn some cranks and wheels with me!"

"He's perfectly harmless!"  
"I didn't know that!" Alex squeaked.

"What's he doing here, anyways?" asked Valtiel.

"We're watching tapes of his memories to prove he's a douche."

"Oh, well, I could've told you that!"

Alex was surprisingly wounded by the snarky comment and felt like a dick for being so judgmental. He reached into his back pocket and brought out a small plastic box.

"I…I didn't know you were his friend. Here-take my last medical kit. This should take care of some of your cuts…"

"Gee, thanks!" Valtiel grasped the box in his black vinyl gloves and began applying ointment to the slash marks on his arms.

"Nicely done! Maybe you could've used some of that compassion on your cop buddy when he was all stabbed up!" Pyramid Head nodded.

"I thought he was too far gone, that it would be useless…" Alex shook hung his head, guilt creeping into the areas he was once so sure about.

"Well, here's a home movie from your mind to help you with your feelings of guilt." Pyramid Head pressed play.

"Man, it's so hot, isn't it, Alex?" Joshua lounged on his bed, fanning himself with a beat up issue of Batman, the summer sunshine streaming into their shared room.

"Sure is…" Alex nodded. "You know what? This is perfect weather for a water gun fight!" He went to their old chest of drawers and pulled out two plastic pistols.

"Really?"

"Really." Alex tossed him the water gun. Joshua sprinted to the bathroom, grinning as he filled it with water from the sink.

"See?!" Alex jabbed Pyramid Head in the side. "I'm a cool big brother! Josh and I did lots of fun stuff like this all the time!"

"Hey-we watch movies with our eyes, not with our mouths! Shut it!" he replied sharply.

Joshua passed Alex at the bathroom door. "I'm going to go hide in the backyard while you're filling up your gun!"

"Sounds like a plan…" Alex watched Joshua skip down the stairs then closed the bathroom door. He popped the cap off the gun's reservoir with his thumb then undid his fly. Alex couldn't help but smile as he filled his pistol with piss. (Ha ha, pisstol)

"Oh, yeah, real cool," snarked Valtiel. Alex sunk back in horror. Why would he ever do something like that?

"That can't be me! There's no way I would ever do anything like that!"

"'Fraid so. You don't remember now, but I'm sure it'll all come back to you."

Alex wasn't sure he ever wanted to remember the person they claimed he was. The next movie started up leaving little time to linger. Alex was a fresh-faced 18, dressed in a tux, sitting in the front seat of the car he borrowed from his dad. At his side was a cute brunette in a sparkling turquoise dress.

"Hey-I know this! This is prom night! That's Stephanie! We went out for almost a year in high school."

"It's all comin' back to you now, huh?" said Pyramid Head. From the looks of it, the night was coming to its inevitable conclusion as Alex leaned over for his goodnight kiss. Stephanie giggled against his lips as their kisses got deeper and deeper, but when his hand snaked towards her breasts, she pulled back.

"Alex," she said, "we talked about this-"

"I know but-"

"Listen: we went to the abstinence meeting and took the promise together. As a Christian man, you should respect me-"

"Stephanie, I _do_ respect you, really, but-"

"If you respect me, then you know we have to draw the line here to keep true to our word. If you have urges, you should just pray." She gave him a quick peck on the lips and hopped out of the car. "Good night!"

"Good night," Alex grumbled. He slumped down in the driver's seat, defeated. After a few moments of silence, the clicking of high heels on concrete drew closer. The passenger's side door opened and an older women-presumably Stephanie's mother-sunk into the seat.

"She pull that prayer crap on you again?" she asked.

"Yeah." Alex huffed. "Bitch."

"Awwww…C'mon, sugar-let's drive out behind the abandoned hospital and play doctor…"

"Ok!" Alex's face lit up as he peeled out of the driveway. On the couch, Alex's brow furrowed.

"Let's just fast-forward through this part here; save it for later." Pyramid Head used the remote to advance the tape.

"That just…It _can't _be me…It just _can't_…" Alex shook his head, trying to shake loose the creeping sensations that the images depicted were truthful, and as he looked up, he realized there was a peephole cut into the wall. Focusing in, he saw an eye at the center of it.

"Hey! Hey, I know you can see me! Can you hear me? I'm trapped in this apartment and—"  
"Is he starting up again?" Valtiel scurried to the wall to stare closely at the hole.

"Who is that guy?" asked Alex.

"That guy? That's my new next door neighbor. I think he's from Ashfield Heights or something. He's such an asshole, always carving peepholes into walls and screamin' and stuff…He doesn't really belong here." Pyramid Head lurched to his feet and shambled over to his Great Knife which was propped up against the wall. He plunged it into the wall lengthening the peephole into a vertical slit. The pleas immediately stopped. Pyramid Head jerked his knife out with a grunt of satisfaction. "That'll teach him. Now, where were we?" He plunked down next to Alex again and turned on the VCR.


	4. Chapter 4

There seemed to be no end to the torment. The incidents of dickery were many and varied, tormenting Alex. Pyramid Head and Valtiel couldn't stop laughing, though, and their merriment was like salt on an open wound.

"Hey, I know her!" Valtiel shrieked, pointing to the pretty blond shopping in a mall on the TV. On screen Alex snapped an up-skirt shot on his cell as she passed him by.

"Ok, ok! All is clear to me! The great truth has been revealed! I get it!!!" Alex screamed.

"Aw…we still have more on the tape…" Valtiel pouted. Pyramid Head shut the VCR off. Sensing Alex's mental frailty, he clapped a meaty, grimy hand on his shoulder.

"I guess you were right. I deserve my punishment, and I accept my judgment. So…what happens now?" Alex sniffled, head hung low.

"Now I get you suited up." Pyramid Head knocked on his helmet, the clangs reverberating.

"Is it..is it hard being a…a…" Alex struggled with the exact words.

"A judge of the damned? No, it's not that bad. It's just easy to get bored here. I mean, sure, the nurses and mannequins are nice-"

"Mannequins?"

"-but all of that gets old after a while. Geez, I had this huge drinking problem after being here a few years…"  
"Yeah, he drank constantly," said Valtiel.

"I mean, I had this huge beer gut and I used to go around wearing an apron to cover it up, but it didn't really work. This one time, I snuck up on a guy out at the mall and he looked at me standing amongst all of these corpses and stuff on gurneys and you know what he said? He took one look at me and said 'nothing special'. How about that? Nothing special! I mean, that really hurt. I guess I was in denial for a while, but then I started to get into fitness and stuff, started working my quads, my core…"

"Yeah, you're pretty ripped," said Alex.

"Thanks! Hey, you know-we can be workout buddies!"

"That sounds…nice." Alex supposed any friend in Silent Hill was better than none.

"We can turn cranks and wheels together, really work on our biceps!" chirped Valtiel.

"Er, sure…"

"And hopefully that asshole next door moves out and then you can be my neighbor!"

"Yay! Friends!" Valtiel swept him up in a squishy hug.

"You know," said Pyramid Head, "remember when I went into the kitchen to make us a Frito pie? Well, I whipped up a little something special for you while I was back there."

"You did?" Alex cautiously grinned.

"Yup! Here you are, big guy! You can wear it on your military jacket!"  
"Wow, thanks!"

Pyramid Head reached out and pinned a medal to Alex's lapel.

It was the award for acts of douche baggery.


End file.
